Hi everyone,
I have a lot of ant in my garden: underneath pots, at the bottom of the lemon/clementine tree and inside pots.
what r the doing..? how do I get rid of them?
adding photo underneath a pot - notice that they are carrying little white thing...
Ant bait. I use terro. There is a terro for outdoor use. You can also put a barrier on the tree. I use vaseline and make a 5-6 inch band around the trunk of the tree near the base. Then I spray the vaseline with boric acid. It keeps the ants from climbing up the tree for a while. You can also use tanglefoot.
Hose down the foliage with a jet of water to dislodge the citrus aphids. They are usually a problem when the tree is putting on new growth. If you want to try to get ahead of the problem start spraying with neem when the tree starts to flush with new leaves.
Greenhouse frogs, lizards and toads eat ants. Killing the workers is futile, that is why terro works better. The ants will take the bait back and feed it to the queen. I replace the bait every couple of months. Ant colonies here can have multiple queens and I sent my ants to the Department of Ag and they said I have at least two different species of ants but all of them are sweet eating so Terro works. For grease eating ants you need to use a peanut butter based bait.
This is a publication from the Hawaii ant lab it is about fire ants but the bait works for any grease eating ants.
https://www.littlefireants.com/08%20LFA% ... 0Sheet.pdf
Hose down the foliage with a jet of water to dislodge the citrus aphids. They are usually a problem when the tree is putting on new growth. If you want to try to get ahead of the problem start spraying with neem when the tree starts to flush with new leaves.
Greenhouse frogs, lizards and toads eat ants. Killing the workers is futile, that is why terro works better. The ants will take the bait back and feed it to the queen. I replace the bait every couple of months. Ant colonies here can have multiple queens and I sent my ants to the Department of Ag and they said I have at least two different species of ants but all of them are sweet eating so Terro works. For grease eating ants you need to use a peanut butter based bait.
This is a publication from the Hawaii ant lab it is about fire ants but the bait works for any grease eating ants.
https://www.littlefireants.com/08%20LFA% ... 0Sheet.pdf
Terro is basically sugar water and boric acid. Boric acid is the main ingredient in most of the ant baits. What changes is the carrier. Sugar for sweet ants and peanutbutter or oil for grease and protein eating ants. You can make your own Terro bait
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water
1 Tablespoon of Borax. (Update! The box now looks like this:Borax Laundry Booster, 76 oz Box) or boric acid (aka Roach Proof)
Mix it well together. I used hot water since it helps dissolve the sugar better. The mixing container, measuring cups and spoons are not used for any other purpose.
I made 4 small holes on the sides near the bottom of small plastic containers. (Spreadable cream cheese and margarine containers worked well or you can also use 6 inch pieces of pvc tubing. Put three cotton balls in the plastic container or into the middle of the PVC pipe. Using the spoon, and wearing gloves, moisten the cotton balls with the boric acid solution. It does not have to be dripping wet. Put out the containers on the ant trails. The boric acid solution needs to be weak enough not to kill the ants right away so they can bring the bait back to the colony and feed it to the queen. It takes a while to see the effects. When the cotton balls turn black, I toss them out, wash out the containers and make new ones.
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water
1 Tablespoon of Borax. (Update! The box now looks like this:Borax Laundry Booster, 76 oz Box) or boric acid (aka Roach Proof)
Mix it well together. I used hot water since it helps dissolve the sugar better. The mixing container, measuring cups and spoons are not used for any other purpose.
I made 4 small holes on the sides near the bottom of small plastic containers. (Spreadable cream cheese and margarine containers worked well or you can also use 6 inch pieces of pvc tubing. Put three cotton balls in the plastic container or into the middle of the PVC pipe. Using the spoon, and wearing gloves, moisten the cotton balls with the boric acid solution. It does not have to be dripping wet. Put out the containers on the ant trails. The boric acid solution needs to be weak enough not to kill the ants right away so they can bring the bait back to the colony and feed it to the queen. It takes a while to see the effects. When the cotton balls turn black, I toss them out, wash out the containers and make new ones.